Pigeons - Blog Posts
I was doing a short film centering around an old man and a pigeon during my masters degree. I never finished it, but these sketches have stuck.
Pigeons??? The totally domesticated infamously trainable birds that are actual war heroes and can fly missiles?? And spot cancer and learn tricks and fly home and read food labels for allergens?? Harder to control than OWLS??? Sorry, pigeons are a huge interest of mine and reality hits HARD when I meet someone that just.. doesn't know a thing about them! Which is not your fault, society views them as pests and most people think that's all there is to know about them :(
The good news is, you have untapped wells of pigeon knowledge waiting for you if I can encourage you to go have some fun learning about these beautiful birds!!
Will there be pigeons in season 3? I just feel like you can't go wrong with pigeons in season 3
That's up to the Pigeon Central Committee.
I’ve just made a behavioral study on birds (aka. I’ve fed bread to pigeons and crows) and I’d like to conserve the results for posterity:
Pigeons can and will fight each other for even the smallest crumb of bread
When a pigeon picked up a bread crumb and other pigeons are nearby it will spread its wings to ensure the other pigeons can’t get close enough to steal the crumb™
The other , bread stealing pigeons might also spread their wings to make sure that no pigeon can steal the breadcrumb before them
They will steal it straight from another pigeons beak
Pigeons have no manners
They WILL fly at you and hover around your head once they realized you’re the one throwing the crumbs
They have no concept of personal space.
Crows on the other hand are civilized.
They will try to get to the crumb first but when another crow has reached the crumb before them they will accept this and leave them be
However if a pigeon reaches the crumb first they WILL go absolutely feral and peck the pigeon until it surrenders the crumb
Pigeons are reasonably scared of crows and won’t try to steal crumbs from their very pointy stabby beaks
Crows will wait for you to throw the crumbs at an appropriate distance because they do have manners
Unlike pigeons they will also watch you and look right into your eyes, expectantly
If a crow looks at you , waiting, and you throw it a crumb it will try to catch it just like a dog would
Pigeons however don’t notice shit until it lies in front of their face or they see another pigeon found something
Crows understand pointing, pigeons don’t
If the crows are satisfied they will fly away
Pigeons are never satisfied and therefore will bother you until the very end (aka. Until you don’t have any bread left)
They always hunger.
In conclusion:
Feeding crows is more fun than feeding pigeons because crows know the rules of society and pigeons don’t.
(Next Time on “birdhavioral studies” : “why seagulls fear neither god nor devil” )
My beloved little pigeons, so simple, so pure
I think of you every waking moment, you're all that I adore
You're feathers, a pleasant grey, and I have to say, they make me love you even more
My pleasant little pigeons, I hope you get far as you soar
Ferdinand von Wright (Finnish, 1822–1906), "From the Garden: Flowers and Birds" (detail)
